Just days before D.C. residents head to the polls in 2016’s final presidential primary, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders highlighted his support for District of Columbia statehood.
“I think it is morally wrong for American citizens who pay federal taxes, fight in our wars and live in our country to be denied the basic right to full congressional representation,” Sanders said in a statement Saturday.
Sanders also mentioned support for the cause in an off-hand remark at a campaign rally in the nation’s capital on Thursday.
“I hope that the next time I’m back we’re going to be talking about the state of Washington, D.C.,” Sanders said.
Sanders also lent support for D.C. statehood in June 2015 when he helped co-sponsor legislation on the issue, The Hill reported.
Efforts to make D.C. a state have been a large part of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s platform while in office. On Tuesday, Bowser proposed adding the issue to the Democratic National Committee’s platform, according to NBC Washington.
The presidential election will head into its final primary day on Tuesday, but Sanders’ democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton, has already secured enough delegates to make her the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Sanders has vowed to continue his bid in hopes of swaying superdelegates in his favor at the convention, but he is set to meet with some of his top supporters and advisers on Sunday in Burlington, Vermont, to discuss the future of his campaign.
On Thursday, Sanders signaled that he was looking forward to meeting with Clinton “in the near future to see how we can work together to defeat Donald Trump and to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1%.”